First of all, Happy New Year or Feliz Ano Novo! I hope this year is going very well for you, and that it continues so! Now, I wanted to ask you:
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions list yet? Are you a fan of it, or don’t you like those things?
I don’t usually do it, but there are certain things I have on my mind that I would like to achieve this year. I don’t think that making a list of goals that we want to accomplish during the year is bad, per se, but it should be done with a certain logic so that we don’t get overwhelmed.
The same can be said about the goals to be achieved when we are learning a language.
So be careful!
Think about the end result that you want to achieve – being fluent in Portuguese – but don’t get hung up on it.
In this post, I’m going to talk a little about how you should organize your list of goals, so that you succeed, without getting lost along the way. And I will also explain how to apply this to learning Portuguese!
So, today I wanted to talk to you about New Year’s resolutions, and more specifically, about the goals you want to achieve by learning Portuguese.
It’s very easy to get to the end of a year and think: next year I’m going to be able to achieve everything I want. I’m going to eat healthier food, I’m going to do more sport, I’m going to buy a house, I’m going to buy a car, I’m going to change careers, start a new relationship, I’m finally going to be fluent in Portuguese…
Hold on!
Yes, it is possible to reach your goals but to do so, you have to stop, take a step back, take a deep breath and really take the necessary steps to achieve them.
I’ve been doing some research, and I’ve been able to compile a bunch of expert advice, and what they say are the steps needed to turn a list of goals into something with a future.
Realizing what we should do is good so that our dreams are not kept in a drawer. Think about how many times you’ve made a list of things you wanted to achieve, but then it never came to fruition. Maybe you’re one of the few to whom this doesn’t happen, but it’s happened to me a few times, and I know many other people to whom it has happened too!
So, if you want to see your plans come to life, pay attention to the following steps:
How to succeed with your New Year’s Resolutions:
1 – Decide what you want to do and go for it
The first thing to do is decide what you really want to do or the goal you want to achieve. Not just because it looks nice on paper, but really because you want to make whatever you want to come true. When you decide, go ahead.
2 – Write down that goal (or goals)
Making a purely mental list is perhaps not the best thing. You might even forget about it! So, once you decide what you want to do, or what you want to achieve, write it down. Make a list, even if it only has one point (which normally shouldn’t be the case, because you should take that point and divide it into smaller points, to make it easier to achieve your goal… this actually takes me to the next step).
3 – Divide your goal into several sub-goals
I’m making up this name – “sub-goals”, but what I mean is that when we have a plan to achieve something, we should create mini-tasks to make it easier to reach our goal.
Imagine you want to eat better. For that, you should think about the type of food you want to eat. Maybe get a healthy cookbook. Afterward, you should see what you need to buy, and make a shopping list. You should also prepare your kitchen. Are you missing a tool? If so, you should buy what you lack. And so on.
All of these steps are mini goals. If you put them on the list of your primary goals, you’re deconstructing your big goal, which is to eat better. This makes the whole process much simpler and easier to carry out.
Let me give you another example. One of my goals for this year is to grow on YouTube and make my channel reach more people. This is just the overall goal. To make it more concrete, I’ve set a mini goal which is to grow to 35k followers by February 28th. In this way, I can measure my success, and adapt my objective.
By the way, if you want to help me achieve this, subscribe to my channel, and turn on the notification bell. Thank you!
4 – Tell someone who encourages you
Now that you’ve broken your plan down into smaller sub-plans, it’s a good time to share them with someone you know will help keep you focused.
Don’t tell that friend who is against everything.
No, now you want to share it with someone positive and who believes in you. Who knows, you might even find someone who has the same goals as you, and who can accompany you on that journey.
5 – Start, continue, and don’t give up!
Starting something is always harder, but once you start taking the steps that will help you make your dreams come true, don’t give up. There will be a moment when maybe you lose your will a little when the first problems start to appear… but the important thing is to know that the day after, maybe everything will look better.
Don’t give up, keep going, and make your dream come true!
Now that you know the steps to take if you want to succeed with your New Year’s plans, you also know how to succeed with your Portuguese. If one of your wishes for this new year is to become fluent in Portuguese, then you can apply the points discussed before to make everything simpler and more attainable. Now let’s see.
Your plan is: Become fluent in Portuguese.
Good!
So let’s go back to the steps discussed earlier:
How to organize your Portuguese Language Goals for 2023:
1) Decide what you want to do and go for it
Have you decided? Have you really gotten it into your head that this year you want to achieve your goals with Portuguese? Very well! Then you are already on the right track!
2) Write down that Portuguese language goal
Now you know. To make everything more real, write on a piece of paper: I want to improve my Portuguese. Or: I want to become fluent in Portuguese. Very well! Let’s continue…
3) Divide your Portuguese language goal into several sub-goals
I know being fluent is your main goal, but now comes the part of breaking that goal down into small sub-goals, as I called them before. Therefore, when you learn Portuguese, if you want to become fluent you will have to learn the grammar well; learn vocabulary; learn to express yourself in Portuguese and understand what others say to you; learn to write and read in Portuguese, etc.
So these are already some points that you can put on your list. You can later divide them even more.
Let’s think about grammar and vocabulary: you can decide that by February you want to learn how to present yourself in Portuguese. So, you can make a list of words that have to do with that topic and learn them. Afterward, you can also try to understand which verbs you will need to introduce yourself. For example, the verbs SER and ESTAR. You can then put them on your list of things to learn by February.
TIP: If you want a little help, my free course Kickstart Your Portuguese – The Basics is perfect, because, in the end, you’ll be able to do exactly that – introduce yourself in Portuguese.
4) Tell someone who encourages you to learn Portuguese
Now you can show your bullet list to someone you know who will support this project of yours. Who knows, you might even share it with someone who is also learning Portuguese and will keep you on track. You can encourage each other! Good! I’d like to know what your mini-goals are for this year, so leave them in the comments if you want.
5) Start, keep going, and don’t give up!
Now it’s time to work on each point! It’s already on your calendar, so let’s practice each of these parts of Portuguese. If you always keep going, be consistent, and don’t give up, even if it’s difficult at times (I know!), you’ll see that you’ll reach your main goal, which is to become fluent in Portuguese.
Congratulations!
Okay, I hope you enjoyed this article of mine and that it encourages you to start or continue your journey through the world of Portuguese.
Have you made your New Year’s list yet? Is studying Portuguese part of it?
If so, and as I know that studying alone and without a solid structure can sometimes be quite difficult, I would like to invite you to check out my online courses. Right now, and to be one of the people who encourage you to learn Portuguese, I’m giving a 30% New Year’s discount on all my courses.
Just click through to my Portuguese online courses, choose the course that makes the most sense for you, and use the promo code “2023” when purchasing.
If you have questions, just contact me and I’ll answer.
For now, that’s it!
Beijinhos,
Mia